'Gutting': Horner Comments On Perez's Performance In Mexico City

Monday, 30 October 2023 at 20:30

Red Bull Racing F1 team principal Christian Horner shared his opinion after the crash of Sergio Perez in the first corner during the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Sergio went all in on his home race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. With a decent qualifying result starting from the 5th place, right behind his teammate in third, Perez was prepared to compete for the race win.

However, every hope for a win of the Mexican driver turned to dust in the first corner after he caused a collision with Charles Leclerc on Ferrari.

On the other hand, Verstappen got into the lead of the race, which he was able to keep as he finished 13 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the second place despite the race restart, which hindered his progress.

At the end of the Grand Prix weekend, the Red Bull Racing team took both first and the last position in the race. The team principal, Christian Horner, told Sky F1:

"Yeah, I mean, very contrasting. Another amazing race by Max today, total and utter dominance, but for Checo, just absolutely gutting home race."

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Perez had an incredible launch of the line when he went from fifth place to almost first place as he got alongside Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen going into the first corner.

"And he had a rocket ship launch and had so much momentum going into that first corner. You can’t blame him for going for it to try and take the lead at his own race."

It wasn't the first time that Perez caused a collision this year. Some past examples include the Singapore Grand Prix as well as the Japanese Grand Prix. Asked if this needs to be addressed, Horner responded:

"Look, he’s got 13 years of experience in Formula 1 and I think when you’re going through a difficult moment, it’s important to support him."

The Red Bull team principal seemed to defend Perez in front of the media. While we won't find out what will be said behind closed doors, the ever-increasing pressure seems to be getting to Perez, and Lewis Hamilton closed the gap in the Drivers' Championship to 20 points with three race weekends left.

"And I think that he was having a great weekend up until that point and he was going for the lead at his home race in Mexico City, with a crowd that it’s insane the amount of support behind him, and three into one doesn’t go and unfortunately he was just on the wrong side of it."